Are audiophiles still out of their minds?

Dracule wrote,

" I know cables can make a difference in sound quality of your system, but never dramatic like changing speakers, amplifiers, or even more importantly room treatment. Yes, I’ve evaluated many vaunted cables at dealers and at home over the years, but never heard dramatic effect that I would plunk $5000 for a cable. The most I’ve ever spent was $2700 for pair of speaker cables, and I kinda regret it to this day. So when I see cable manufacturers charging 5 figures for their latest and "greatest" speaker cables, PC, and ICs, I have to ask myself who buys this stuff."

Well, it all depends on how you look at it. If you bought a pair of speaker cables for $2700 twenty years ago, then taking into account inflation those same cables would sell for what in today’s dollars, more than $6,000? You ask, who buys this stuff? Apparently it’s folks like you. ;-)

Nice try, geoffkait, I bought my $2700 cables 5 years ago. Adjusting for inflation, the price hasn’t changed much at all given the slow growth of our economy. And any cable with asking price $2700 is still too expensive today, IMO. 20 years ago, I was a poor kid in graduate school and couldn’t even afford a $50 cable, even though I was bitten by the audiophile fever.

But didn’t I admit I regretted the purchase to begin with? Why try to dig up crap where it doesn't exist?

I'd like to learn more about room treatments. Is there a commonsensical white paper or simple, rule of thumb article you recommend? 

Please don't steer me to threads that are a series of arguments. That kind of thing wears me out.

Thanks in advance,
gary

Over at the Planar Speaker Asylum forum there is a lot of discussion of room acoustics and treatment, understandable because of the nature of planar speaker's interactions with rooms.

faster61woman
3 posts
06-05-2016 8:04pm
I'm wondering, why all of the hoopla over expensive wire/fuses? Why don't we fuss over acoustic treatments more?

I'm far more in agreement with you on this than not, relative to some aspects. Room acoustics is a big factor and contributor to the overall sound of ones audio system, but I much prefer tweaking acoustics with "natural" environmental aids than those typically pre-manufactured that absorb sound more than they diffuse. Diffusion to my ears leaves a vital element of energy and "aliveness" intact, though a certain (preferably minimum) amount of absorption seems necessary. Taste is another factor, I guess; to me the threshold of the level of absorption hits earlier than others, but where the reverberative nature of the acoustics may still be too prevalent I seek to minimize via diffusion. It's a balance that takes some trial and error to attain, where my preference into acoustical behavior is tilted towards that which is slightly more alive/reverberative. The careful arrangement of plants, bookshelf, rugs (a big cow skin on a wooden floor in my case) and furniture can bring you a long way - indeed I prefer natural materials to achieve this. Added to this my speakers are all-horn equipped which makes them more directive in nature, and so downplays some much of the contribution of the room.